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The Southern Cross
Vol. 58 No. 1
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Thursday, January 6,1977 Single Copy Price —15 Cents
RHODESIAN FUNERAL -- Missionary Sisters of
the Precious Blood carry the casket of Mother Francis
Van den Berg who was killed by a Rhodesian gunman
along with a bishop and a priest. Another nun escaped
by rolling under the bishop’s vehicle and feigning
death. (NC Photo)
D.C.F. Deanery Workshops Set
The January/February series of DCF
Deanery Workshops will offer another
opportunity for teachers of religion to
widen their background knowledge and
to share ideas with one another.
The program will cover two major
areas of study, in response to a
questionnaire which was filled out at
the last workshop series in September.
In the area of Creative Teaching,
“Prayer and Worship” will be discussed,
in connection with elementary and high
school teaching.
The topic for the Theology section of
the workshop will be “The Sacramental
Life of the Church.”
Father Michael Smith and Brother
Joseph Teston will lead the workshops
in each Deanery. Several special
speakers have offered to take part in the
“Creative Teaching” section. Their
names are listed below, for each
Deanery.
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
AUGUSTA DEANERY - Saturday,
January 15 from 1:30 to 4:30 at St.
Joseph’s Parish Hall. Special speakers
will be Sr. Jean Durbin, Mrs. Connie
Bewley and Mrs. David Casey.
(Continued on page 6)
POPE PAUL:
Abortion, Liberalized Laws
Topic Of New Year Message
ROME (NC) -- Pope Paul VI began
the new year and the Church’s World
Peace Day celebrations Jan. 1 with
ringing condemnations of abortion and
liberalized abortion laws.
In the presence of Rome’s
Communist mayor and diplomats
accredited to the Vatican, Pope Paul
issued one of the strongest and frankest
attacks of his reign against those who
seek abortion and against laws which
permit them to do so.
At a televised New Year’s Day Mass
in modem Regina Apostolorum (Queen
of the Apostles) Church here, Pope Paul
asked rhetorically, “can we remain
silent . . . about the legalization of
abortion, its acceptance and protection
in several countries?
“Is the life that at its very conception
springs up in the mother’s womb not
really and truly human life? Does it not
need every care, every love, seeing that
this embryonic life is defenseless, yet
already inscribed in the divine book of
the destiny of humanity?
“Who could suppose that a mother
would kill her offspring or let it be
killed? Whet drug, wh*»t legal gilding can
ever deaden the remorse of a woman
who has freely and consciously
murdered the fruit of her womb?”
The Pope’s words at the morning
Mass were based on the theme he had
chosen for the celebration of the Jan. 1
World Day of Peace - “If you want
peace, defend life.”
In Italy, the question of abortion has
taken on particular urgency in January
because the Italian Chamber of Deputies
(lower house of parliament) is expected
to vote soon on a proposed liberalized
abortion law.
Within minutes after returning to
Vatican City from the Church in the
southern suburbs of Rome, Pope Paul
again spoke about abortion to crowds
gathered for the Angelus in St. Peter’s
Square.
“It is a sacrosanct obligation,” the
Pope declared from his apartment
window overlooking the square, “to
have an important and sacred concept
of what human life is -- especially
human life about to be born, life which
is the most innocent and most
mysterious, life which is newest and
most in need of protection and
assistance.”
The Pope urged Catholics to extend
protection and help to “every other
human life as well, especially to the
poor and suffering.”
He said that “the peaceful life and
order of society, good social
relationships and peace in its fullest and
most radical sense rest on the
observance of respect for life.”
The real basis of respect for life, he
concluded, is “love, the ‘agape’ which
Christ has taught us and which must be
at the roots of human feelings, make
superhuman precisely by faith and
charity.”
During the morning Peace Day Mass,
held in the mother church of the
Pauline Fathers and Sisters, the Pope
gave his formula for attaining world
peace.
“Everyone remembers the saying that
took root in the minds of people, ‘If
you want peace, prepare for war.’ This
is a disastrous, despairing saying,” the
Pope asserted. “Tomorrow it will be
even more so, unless it is corrected and
replaced with another saying ... ‘if you
want peace, prepare peace’.”
Peace, said the Pope, “is not a stable
rock amid the waves of the stormy
ocean of world history, but a floating
ship that depends on many conditions
and on the efforts of many to avoid
shipwreck . .. Peace is always ‘in fieri,’
being brought about.” (“In fieri” is a
Latin phase meaning “in the process of
coming into being.”)
After the liturgy, the Pope meet
briefly with Rome’s Communist mayor,
Giulio Carlo Argan, who during the
Mass sat next to the Pope’s vicar for the
Rome diocese, Cardinal Ugo Poletti.
Before distribution of Communion,
the mayor exchanged a greeting of
peace with the cardinal, who had
pledged during the 1976 election
campaign here never to yield an inch to
In his homily the Pope thanked
Mayor Argan especially for attending.
The Pauline Fathers and Sisters,
whose founder, Father Alberione, is
buried in the crypt of Regina
Apostolorum, are engaged in a
worldwide apostolate of mass media. In
Italy they publish the nation’s largest
circulation magazine.
Sister Ruth’s Rolling Classroom, Home, Theater, Library And Office
What travels more than 25,000 miles
annually, and serves as a home,
classroom, theater, library and office?
It’s the motor home operated by
Sister Ruth Marie Hensler, O.S.F.,
religious education coordinator for a
SISTER RUTH MARIE HENSLER, O.S.F., travels more than 25,000
miles annually as Religious Coordinator in the Albany Deanery of
southwestern Georgia.
MOTOR HOME, which was purchased with a grant from the Catholic
Church Extension Society, also serves as a classroom, library, theater and
office.
10,000-square-mile area of southwest
Georgia’s Albany Deanery.
Sister Ruth began her work in the
Franciscan Missions in 1974 after
completing advanced studies at
Fordham University’s Graduate School
of Religion and Religious Education.
Sister’s studies were undertaken at the
request of Bishop Gerard Frey, the
Ordinary of the Savannah Diocese at
that time, and after receiving provincial
approval. She received a grant from the
Catholic Church Extension Society for
study at Fordham.
There are approximately 1,500
Catholics in the area Sister Ruth travels.
One of the towns in Sister’s territory is
Plains, Ga., the home of President-elect
Jimmy Carter.
The major emphasis of Sister Ruth’s
program is teacher training and
preparation. She visits each of her more
than 50 teachers each month and also
encourages their attendance at diocesan
workshops. Nearly 400 elementary and
high school students are currently
enrolled in the program.
Sister Ruth and. the six priests that
serve the 10 churches or parish centers
and two stations where Sunday Mass is
regularly celebrated plan the program
for each year.
“My goal is to strengthen the faith of
the Catholics living in this area so they
can make the Church more present in
this extensive territory where our
Catholic witness is limited,” said Sister
Ruth, who is the only nun in the area
she serves.
Based in Albany, Georgia, Sister
Ruth’s activities have her on the road
upwards of 12 hours each day of the
week. “When I first began my mission
work I tried to have each of my
instructors meet with me at a central
location,” said Sister Ruth. “Although
this was more convenient for me, it was
difficult for my teachers so I began to
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
Says “No Discrimination”
WASHINGTON (NC) - A top aide to President-elect Jimmy Carter says there is no
discrimination against Catholics, Hispanics or persons opposed to abortion in hiring
people to serve in the Carter Administration. The aide also # said he had reprimanded a
transition staff volunteer who had suggested a Hispanic Catholic woman, Graciela
Oliverez, “should be thought about very carefully if she is being considered for a job
that will in any way concern abortion and related subjects” because she is a “strong,
active right-to-life supporter.”
“Age Of Woman Upon Us”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (NC) -- “We can say with assurance that the age of woman is
upon us and we will never again be the same. All of the previous forms of service are
not enough. Woman wants to accomplish more, to serve more fully.” This statement is
part of a lengthy study on the role of women in the Church in the archdiocese
published in a 12-page supplement of The Record, archdiocesan newspaper.
visit their homes or other places where
meetings could be held on an individual
basis.”
These visits require Sister Ruth to
spend much more time traveling and
moving about the various educational
aids she carries with her.
“Initially I traveled the territory by
car, but I found it difficult to store my
classroom aids and I had no real place to
meet with my instructors,” she said. At
the same time, Sister’s increased travel
schedule required her to spend more
time away from her home in Albany.
Sister Ruth also visits lapsed
(Continued on page 6)
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COORDINATOR meets with one of her
instructors in the motor home.